Conduit arrangement for tilt cylinder of bulldozer

ABSTRACT

A conduit arrangement for a tilt cylinder of a bulldozer comprises a trunnion having a hole to be connected to the hole in a truck frame and a conduit adapted to be connected through the frame to the tilt cylinder. The conduit is arranged to extend through the hole in the truck frame into the latter, the end of said conduit being connected by means of a coupling to a stationary conduit on the side of a hydraulic oil tank. A cover is secured to the base of the frame, whereby connection and disconnection between the conduit and the stationary conduit can be easily effected.

United States Patent [191 Terai et al.

[451 Nov. 18, 1975 CONDUIT ARRANGEMENT FOR TILT CYLINDER OF BULLDOZER [75] Inventors: Akio Terai; Eiji Kawamura; Hisashi Fukumoto, all of Hirakata, Japan [73] Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Komatsu Seisakusho, Tokyo, Japan [22] Filed: June 25, 1974 [21] Appl. No.: 482,853

[52] US. Cl. 172/801 [51] Int. Cl. E02F 3/76 [58] Field of Search 172/801-809; ,37/DIG. 10

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,687,586 8/1954 Dickinson.... 172/805 2,730,823 l/l956 Cassidy 1 172/805 3,539,021 11/1970 Campen et a1 172/803 3,777,824 12/1973 Anderson et al. 172/801 Primary ExaminerStephen C. Pellegrino Attorney, Agent, or FirmAImstrong, Nikaido & Wegner [57] ABSTRACT A conduit arrangement for a tilt cylinder of a bulldozer comprises a trunnion having a hole to be connected to the hole in a truck frame and a conduit adapted to be connected through the frame to the tilt cylinder. The conduit is arranged to extend through the hole in the truck frame into the latter, the end of said conduit being connected by means of a coupling to a stationary conduit on the side of a hydraulic oil tank. A cover is secured to the base of the frame, whereby connection and disconnection between the conduit and the stationary conduit can be easily effected.

3 Claims, 5 Drawing Figures U.S. Patent Nov. 18, 1975 Sheet1 o f2 3,920,081

US. Patent Nov. 18, 1975 Sheet2of2 3,920,081

4 )ml P f I M FIG. 4

FIG. 5

earth-moving machine;

CONDUIT ARRANGEMENT FOR TILTCYLINDER OF BULLDOZER:

BACKGROUND or TI-IE INVENTION This invention relates to a bulldozenand more particularly to an arrangement of conduits for a; tilt cylinder for a bulldozer.

As shown in FIG. 1, in order to protect a conduit c extending from a hydraulic oil tank a to a tilt cylinder h", the conduit ispassed through a frame d" of an earth-moving machine. In the conventional conduit arrangement, however, as shown in FIG. 2, a conduit c" from a hydraulic tank a extends outwardly through a truck frame f behind a trunnion e which serves to pivotally support the frame d of the earthmoving machine, and extends from the rear end of the frame d of the earth-moving machine into the interior thereof. Such type of structure is disadvantageous in that the conduit 0 extending from the truck frame f to the frame d of the earth-moving machine must to be protected by means ofa cover g by the stationary side and a cover h by the moving side, and therefore, there is inevitably formed a gap t between the covers g and h as shown in the drawings, through which gap soil may enter causing damage to the conduit c. A further disadvantage of this type of structure resides in that when using the stationary cover for covering the base portion of the cover h on the moving side, it is necessary to make the stationary cover very large.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is, therefore, an object'of the present invention to 7 provide a conduit arrangement for a tilt cylinder of a bulldozer which facilitates easy treatment of the conduit upon mounting and dismounting the frame of earth-moving machine.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS The above and other objects, features and advantaken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings,

in which:

FIG. 1 is a side elevational view'of the tilt-dozer using the conventional conduit arrangement;

I FIG. 2 is a sectional view of the base of a frame of the FIG. 3 is a sectional view of the principal part of the conduit arrangement according to the present invention; y Y

F [GL4 is a partial sectional side view of the conduit arrangement of the present invention; and

' FIG. 5. is a sectional view of the interior of the truck frame.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring now to FIGS. 3 to 5 which show one embodiment of the present invention, reference numeral 1 denotes a frame which'is secured at its end to an earthmoving machine. As shown in FIG. 3, the base end of the arm frame 1 is pivotally connected to'a trunnion 4 which projects from a truck frame 3. Within thistrunnion 4 is formed a hole 5 extending through the axis thereof, and within the truck frame 3 is formed a hole ,2 6 which is aligned .with the hole 5. A conduit 8 entends owtwardly from the inside of the truck frame 3 into the hole 6 in the truck frame 3 and the hole 5 of the trunnion 4. A hole 10 is formed at the base of the frame 1, and a coupling plate 11 is secured to the hole 10 from the outside. The conduit 8 extends outwardly through the trunnion 4 and is connected to coupling 12 mounted on one side of a coupling plate 11, and the base of a conduit 14 extending into the frame of the earth-moving machine is connected to the coupling 13 on the other side of coupling plate 11. The conduit 14 extends outside of the frame 1 in the vicinity of the base of the tilt cylinder and is connected to the tilt cylinder. Furthermore, at the base of the frame 1 of the earthmoving machine there is secured'a cover 15 for covering the conduit 8 which extends from the trunnion 4 to the base of the frame 1.

The conduit 8 extending inwardly through the hole 5 of the trunnion 4 and the hole 6 of the truck frame 3 is connected to a stationary conduit 16 through a coupling 17. The conduit 16 is connected in turn to a hydraulic tank (not shown) at the position where the conduit 8 is allowed to make its entry into the turck frame 3. Namely, the conduit 8 passes through a rear wall 19a of a upper roll support 19 through the coupling 17 and is thus connected coupling member 20 mounted on the outer surface of the rear wall 19a. The stationary conduit 16 extends laterally from the coupling 20 to the center of the truck body along the outer surface of the rear wall 19a and is connecting to another coupling 22 which is mounted on a bracket 21 fixedly connected to a rear portion of a spring cover 18, and further extends therefrom so as to be clamped on a diagonal brace 23, and finally reaches to the hydraulic tank, as shown in FIG. 5.

As is clear from the foregoing description, since the conduit 8 extending outwardly through the hole 5 of the trunnion 4 and the hole 6 of the truck frame 3 is arranged to extend through the axial portion of the trunnion 4 to which the base of the frame 1 is pivotally mounted into the frame 1 of the earth-moving machine,

it is only necessary to secure a one piece cover at the base of the frame 1 to protect the conduit 8 exposed at the base of the frame 1 and it is thus possible to prevent soil from'its making entry thereinto.

It will be understood that since the conduit 8 extending through the hole 5 of the trunnion 4 and the hole 6 of the truck frame 3 is connected to the stationary conduit 16 through the couplings l7 and 20 supported on the rear wall 19a of the upper roll support, in the present invention, connection and disconnection between the conduit 8 and the stationary conduit 16 may be easily effected so that the'treatment of the conduit 8 when connecting and disconnecting the frame 1 with and from the trunnion 4 becomes very easy, in addition, the conduits 8 and 16 is favorably arranged without reducing the intention of any construction element.

What is claimed is:

l. A conduit arrangement for a tilt cylinder of a bulldozer comprising:

a. a trunnion mounted on the truck frame and arm frame of said bulldozer, said truck frame having a hole there-through and said trunnion having a hole through the center thereof, wherein said hole in said truck frame and said hole in said trunnion are aligned;

b. first conduit means coupled to said tilt cylinder and passing through said holes in said trunnion and 3 truck frame, wherein the portion of said first conduit means located immediately before it enters said holes is exposed;

c. second conduit means coupled to a hydraulic fluid supply tank;

d. first coupling means coupling said first and second conduit means; and

e. a unitary cover plate means mounted on said arm frame for covering said exposed portion of said first conduit means and said trunnion.

2. The conduit arrangement of claim 1, wherein said first coupling means comprises a coupling member mounted on the truck body of said bulldozer, and wherein said first and second conduit means are each 4 coupled to said coupling member such that a fluid circuit is formed between said first and second conduit means through said coupling member.

3. The conduit arrangement of claim 2, wherein said first conduit means comprises a first conduit, a coupling plate, second and third coupling means and a second conduit, wherein said first conduit is connected between said tilt cylinder and said second coupling means, said second conduit is connected between said third coupling means and said first coupling means, and second and third coupling means are coupled to said coupling plate such that a fluid circuit is formed thereby. 

1. A conduit arrangement for a tilt cylinder of a bulldozer comprising: a. a trunnion mounted on the truck frame and arm frame of said bulldozer, said truck frame having a hole there-through and said trunnion having a hole through the center thereof, wherein said hole in said truck frame and said hole in said trunnion are aligned; b. first conduit means coupled to said tilt cylinder and passing through said holes in said trunnion and truck frame, wherein the portion of said first conduit means located immediately before it enters said holes is exposed; c. second conduit means Coupled to a hydraulic fluid supply tank; d. first coupling means coupling said first and second conduit means; and e. a unitary cover plate means mounted on said arm frame for covering said exposed portion of said first conduit means and said trunnion.
 2. The conduit arrangement of claim 1, wherein said first coupling means comprises a coupling member mounted on the truck body of said bulldozer, and wherein said first and second conduit means are each coupled to said coupling member such that a fluid circuit is formed between said first and second conduit means through said coupling member.
 3. The conduit arrangement of claim 2, wherein said first conduit means comprises a first conduit, a coupling plate, second and third coupling means and a second conduit, wherein said first conduit is connected between said tilt cylinder and said second coupling means, said second conduit is connected between said third coupling means and said first coupling means, and second and third coupling means are coupled to said coupling plate such that a fluid circuit is formed thereby. 